Staff file photo / Ed Runyan Brianna C. Zagotti, 32, was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday after being convicted at trial of felony child endangering in the July 6 or July 7, 2023, death of her son, Amari, who was almost 2 when he was found unresponsive in his bed.

YOUNGSTOWN — Brianna C. Zagotti was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday after being convicted at trial of felony child endangering following a two-day trial in February regarding the death of her almost 2-year-old son, Amari.

Jurors in her trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court found Zagotti, 32, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, which could have resulted in a much longer prison sentence if convicted.

Her son, Amari, was found unresponsive in his bed in the family’s home in the Compass West Apartments in Austintown on July 7, 2023. Amari’s death was the result of a fentanyl overdose, autopsy results indicated.

Judge Maureen Sweeney gave Zagotti the maximum sentence for her third-degree felony conviction.

Dr. Thomas Gilson, chief medical examiner at the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, who conducted the autopsy on Zagotti’s son, testified that he found the boy to be “normal size” for his age, and there were no signs of trauma on his body. But his lungs had fluid in them, which is a symptom of having suffered an overdose death.

Gilson sent blood and urine, as well as pieces of several organs, for toxicology testing, and the results came back for fentanyl — 20 nanograms per milliliter — in the boy’s system. Gilson said that was a fatal amount, a “very high level.” A concentration of 3 nanograms per milliliter is sufficient to cause death, he said.

Under questioning by Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Fening, Gilson said that because of the amount of fentanyl in the boy’s system, he would have died in “a few minutes.”

Under cross-examination by Aaron Meikle, Zagotti’s attorney, Gilson said he cannot tell how the fentanyl got into the boy’s body, but the most likely way is that he ate it. “(You) don’t necessarily” see evidence of a child eating fentanyl in his or her digestive system, Gilson said.

Also testifying at the trial was Austintown police Detective Sgt. Lea Rozzo, who carried out the investigation into the boy’s death. She said she received a tip that Zagotti and Amari’s father had been at the Waffle House in Girard just before they made the 911 call about Amari being unresponsive.

Rozzo went to the restaurant with photos of the couple and showed them to someone at the restaurant, and the person was able to provide surveillance video showing the couple arriving at the restaurant at 12:02 p.m. and leaving about 12:30 p.m. It is about a 12-minute drive from the Waffle House to their apartment, Rozzo said.

Rozzo interviewed Zagotti three times, starting with the day Amari died and two other times after that, and Zagotti never mentioned having gone to the Waffle House prior to calling 911, which was at 12:45 p.m., Rozzo said. Zagotti said she was at home all morning, Rozzo testified.

After showing Zagotti the video of the couple at the Waffle House, Zagotti admitted to being at the restaurant, Rozzo said. But then she said a neighbor had been checking in on Amari, saying the neighbor “peeks her head in.”

It was the first time Zagotti had mentioned a neighbor, Rozzo said.

Zagotti testified also, saying she had “no idea” how her son got fentanyl in his system. Under questioning by Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews, Zagotti said she thinks she put her son to bed at 11 p.m. the night before he was found unresponsive.

When asked if she checked on her son between 11 p.m. July 6, 2023, and 12:45 p.m. July 7, 2023, Zagotti said she “peeked in” on him several times, but did not check more thoroughly until the final time.